Historic Barn & Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania

Come to Chester County for this year’s Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of PA’s annual meeting and historic barn tour. This is a two-day event scheduled for June 18th and 19th, beginning with a special evening touring an historic barn, the Abiah Taylor barn, owned by HBFF of PA member John Milner, AIA, a renowned historic preservation architect. This tour, which will begin at 5:30 p.m., will be followed by a delicious barbeque dinner in a scrumptious location, the historic Georgia Farm (listed on the national register as the Carter Worth house and farm) located on the Stroud Preserve of the Natural Lands Trust, near West Chester As we enjoy dessert, we will be treated to a program by HBFF of PA director Robert Ensminger who will share his findings on the migration of the Pennsylvania barn and reflect on his research that has taken him across the Atlantic Ocean on the historic trail of these wonderful barns’ origins. HBFF will hold its annual business meeting and election of directors, and close out the evening  discussing the history of the Georgia Farm which is on the National Register.

Saturday will be devoted to touring five historic barns in southern Chester County, along with lunch at the London Grove Friends Meeting House and visiting the Penn oak tree. Saturday’s schedule begins at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at approximately 3 p.m.

Reservations are required to participate in either or in both days’ events. CLICK HERE to download a registration form. Registrations and payments must be received before June 1, 2010. Saturday’s tour will be limited based on available seating so register early to save a place on the bus. Please mail registration form and payment to HBFF of PA, c/o Sheila Miller, President, 80 Witman Road, Womelsdorf, PA 19567. Agendas, directions and motel information will be provided to those who register for the tour.

The Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania held its first annual meeting on June 7, 2009 in historic Gettysburg.  The day included a business meeting and a tour of historic barns on the Gettysburg battlefield. Historic Gettysburg Adams County, a non-profit organization under the leadership of HBFF of PA member Curt Musselman, hosted the event at their historic headquarters, the Grand Army of the Republic Hall.

“We greatly appreciate all of the assistance that Historic Gettysburg Adams County volunteers provided in making this a successful day,” said HBFF of PA President Sheila Miller.  “I also want to recognize the outstanding work of HBFF of PA directors Robert Ensminger and Greg Huber who helped Curt in planning the tour and preparing the booklet on the four battlefield barns that highlighted the afternoon —- the McPherson barn, McClean barn, Sarah Patterson barn, and Culp barn.”

“We were guided through the three National Park Service–owned barns and one privately-owned barn by renowned experts Bob Ensminger and Greg Huber,” noted Miller.  HGAC’s Curt Musselman provided information about each barn and its involvement in the historic battle of Gettysburg.  (Copies of the Gettysburg barn tour booklet are available for $5 by contacting HBFF of PA )

The Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of PA also held its first election of a fifteen- member Board of Directors:  Darwin Braund, State College, 1-year term; Priscilla DeLeon, Bethlehem, 2-year term; Patrick Donmoyer, Kutztown, 1-year term; Robert Ensminger, Bethlehem, 3-year term; Melissa Evans, Goshen, NY, 3-year term; Janice Graver, Bath, 2-year term;  John Hackman, Womelsdorf, 3-year term; Jim Hoy, Reading, 3-year term; Greg Huber, Macungie, 3-year term; Jim Lewars, Reading, 2-year term; Jeffrey Marshall, Doylestown, 2-year term; Sheila Miller, Womelsdorf, 1-year term; Rob Reynolds, Kutztown, 2-year term; Ken Sandri, East Stroudsburg, 1-year term; and Eugene Wingert, St. Thomas, 1-year term.  Biographies inside.  Officers elected are: Sheila Miller, president; Greg Huber, vice president; Ken Sandri, secretary; and Jan Graver, treasurer.

More than 50 people were in attendance from across Pennsylvania.  Next year’s annual meeting will be held in Chester County in June 2010.

Culp Barn

An exciting tour of historic Gettysburg Battlefield barns is in store for you at the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of PA’s first annual meeting. We will be partnering with Historic Gettysburg Adams County – HGAC in planning a memorable day on

Sunday, June 7th.

We will be meeting for a morning business session at the restored Grand Army of the Republic Hall, where we will hear from HGAC President Curt Musselman about their group’s Barn Preservation Project, see a local barn renovation display, and have a delightful lunch. Election of the HBFF of PA’s first official Board of Directors will take place prior to an afternoon of touring three historic barns on National Park Service Property and one privately-owned battlefield barn. Robert Ensminger and Greg Huber will be our talented tour guides, along with Curt Musselman. Seating is limited so sign up today.   Click Here for more information and a registration brochure.

By Gregory D. Huber

This is the circa 1790 Berger Log Switzer barn west of Shartlesville in Berks County. Shown is a view of the distinctive early English style Principal and Common Rafter System.

Generations have come and gone in southeast Pennsylvania since the very first German settlements occurred in the area. The initial place of German occupation was Germantown in the northern region of Philadelphia in the 1680’s.  Since then, untold thousands of log buildings including barns whether they were the ground one-level variety or the bank two-level variety have gone the way of the dinosaur. The log barn as a vernacular building expression has similarly nearly completely disappeared but several dozen of these barns can still be seen and are eking out an existence east of the Susquehanna River and south of the Blue Mountains. Other log barns appear in other areas of the state. Back in the late eighteenth century thousands of such area barns existed. But surely the present time amounts to the eleventh hour for these rare buildings. All German settled counties in southeast Pennsylvania still have a few log barns lurking about and Berks County is one of them.

At this very late stage perhaps 300 years after the first German log barn was built in Berks County about twenty of the barns in the county survive at various homesteads – some close by an easily accessible road and others way back on land much removed from any main road. A few others are seen plain as day such as the log Switzer that stands a few feet south of Old Route 22 about one and one-half miles west of Shartlesville. No excuses allowed not even to octogenarians who pass by – the logs of the near end wall of the barn close to the road are easily seen and are shouting out to be appreciated. This barn may soon go the way of the saber tooth tiger – never to be seen again.

Continue reading The Old Berger Log Switzer near Shartlesville

Secreted away in extreme western Berks County in Bethel Township on a back farm lane several hundred yards south of Routes 78 – 22 is a barn that evokes distant memories of a barn construction type that was at one time a commonplace occurrence in rural southeast Pennsylvania. Now in the early twenty-first century the bank barn of double log crib type at the Ira Fox homestead farm on the west side of Deck Drive is a rarity. Its form is a log Switzer – a two level barn with two log cribs. As a full building and vernacular construction type it is one of the most complete and original barns in all of Berks County. Later additions appear at each end wall of the barn.

As an example of a Switzer the Fox barn has an asymmetrical roof silhouette where the distinctive front frame extension or fore-bay creates the barn class. This barn type whose earliest cousins likely initially appeared on the landscape in the middle third of the eighteenth century is in marked contrast to the later style Standard fore-bay barn that has a symmetrical roof. With exterior dimensions at 49 feet long and 25 feet wide the Fox barn is medium sized. The separate front fore-bay is of normal width – 7 feet. The roof pitch is rather steep.

The original section of barn is of three-bay construction – a middle wagon or threshing bay and two log cribs – each about 16 feet wide. At the front of the wagon floor the big wagon doors appear to be very old or possibly original. The entire floor is original with a few planks up to 16 inches wide. Roof support timbers or rafters are 16 in number and all are hewn. The logs of both cribs are good sized but it is the bottom logs that face the wagon floor that are massive – one is 21 inches thick and the other is 24 inches thick. The distinctive notching of the logs at the corners is referred to as full dove-tail type. This type of notching is common in the western half of Berks County and areas to the west. This is in contrast to the inverted V notching seen in both barns and houses that is common in eastern Berks County and points east. The door that leads to the granary is original and has very unusual wrought hinges. The presence of cut nails with square heads on horizontal boards of the granary indicates a likely date of construction in the post 1815 era.

Submitted by Greg Huber – September 16^th 2008

Past Perspectives – specializing in House Histories

BY GREGORY HUBER

(abridged version; complete copies can be purchased by contacting the HBFF of PA for $5 each)

Casper Maul Stone Ground Barn Dated 1791

The Casper Maul barn is a ground barn located in Oley Township. There is no basement in a ground barn – no distinct functional area appears below the wagon bay. The Maul barn is also called a boddam or bottom barn. In the German dialect it is grundscheier.

Two photos of the 1791 dated Maul barn appear in Charles Dornbusch and John Heyl’s classic barn book – Pennsylvania German Barns. The barn is 60 ½ feet along the front wall – one of the longest seen in any early ground barn in Pennsylvania – and 33 ½ feet at each of the end walls.

Continue reading The Oley Valley Barn Conference Tour

“Thank you to everyone who participated in our first historic barn conference. From expert presenters to novice barn admirers to program sponsors, we valued your contribution to this successful event. I especially want to thank Greg Huber and Jeffrey Marshall for writing and organizing our conference barn tour booklet, portions of which are highlighted in this newsletter. We are fortunate to have a wealth of historic barns in Pennsylvania. Our hope is to highlight every region of our state at some point in the future. Be sure to join us in 2009 as we assemble in Gettysburg.”

—- Sheila Miller, president.

KUTZTOWN — An historic event took place here at the Kutztown University in June, 2008. The Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania welcomed the National Barn Alliance, organization members, and others to Berks County for an annual conference. For the first time, these two non-profit associations whose missions are to record and preserve historic barns across the nation, united their energies and efforts, bringing together enthusiasts of these agricultural icons of the architectural world from seven states and the District of Columbia. This first-time event in the Keystone State was held from June 5^th to 7th.

During the conference, keynote speaker Robert Ensminger presented a special reflection on his many years of research. The author of the book, The Pennsylvania Barn, was one of three individuals honored for their studies of historic barns during a tribute dinner.

John Heyl, a renowned architect who inspired many scholars after himself to document the histories of barns, stressed the importance of preserving old barns. Heyl, who has celebrated more than one hundred birthdays, traveled back to Pennsylvania from his adopted home in Maine to participate in this tribute dinner and share his stories. Also honored was retired Penn State professor Dr. Joseph Glass who followed Heyl in his research and academic work.

Other speakers from across the country shared their expertise on barn preservation, timber framing, foundation repairs, and renovation. Among them was Lancaster County’s John High, the “Barn Saver,” who was joined by Dr. Robert Barr, owner of the historic Star Barn located near Middletown, Pennsylvania. They discussed plans that are underway to take down and relocate the historic structure to a new home near Grantville, Dauphin County, in 2009.

Also providing their expertise on historic barns during the conference were: Brian Snyder, Doug Reed, Ken Sandri, Melissa Evans, Greg Huber, Rod Scott, Patrick Dunmoyer, Keith Cramer, Jeff Marshall, Phoebe Hopkins, April Franz, Moss Rudley, and Dr. Rob Reynolds.

A tour of historic barns in Berks County’s Oley Valley concluded the conference and shared a diverse treasure of unique architecture. According to HBFF of PA’s Greg Huber, the Oley Valley reigns supreme in all of Pennsylvania for sheer assortment of early barn types. “Although it covers only three townships almost all major barn styles are represented as barn builders were not lacking in their knowledge and experience of an extensive repertoire of construction types. In using all types of materials – they erected log Switzers, stone Switzers, stone ground barns, variant stone English Lake District barns and other stone and frame barns of types too diverse to discuss here,” he explained. “Builders and farmers alike did not include the word homogeneous in their working vocabularies. In doing so, they left a trail of construction types that makes for what amounts to a giant barn museum. Few areas in all of North America can compete with the Oley Valley for absolute multiplicity of expressions of barn styles.”